


The Opposite of Envy

by ellipted (savagecrowns)



Series: The Opposite of Apart [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Childhood, IwaOi Week, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru-centric, Iwaizumi's Birthday, M/M, Manhunt - Freeform, headbutt me, i swear this will eventually feature iwaizumi's birthday, i'll probbies update this after iwaoi week with the rest, is a wolf the seijou mascot?, it's just that i accidentally wrote a lot of words before that part, iwaizumi is a goddamn team player and always has been, iwaizumi is a little ray of sunshine, iwaoi week june, oh well, oikawa goes from a timid mouse to majestic wolf, so if i look like i won't finish this, this is basically me publicly shaming myself into completing this piece
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-03 21:43:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4115929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savagecrowns/pseuds/ellipted
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The path to Iwaizumi and Oikawa's friendship wasn't made of flower petals.</p><p>Day 3: Iwaizumi's Birthday</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Opposite of Envy

**Author's Note:**

> ehhhh so this happened. it's not done. clearly this chapter has nothing to do with iwa-chan's birthday but that will feature in later chapters. i hope it's ohkay to submit this as my entry for day 3 since it's not feasible to write it all in one evening.
> 
> oh well;p
> 
> edited; june 16

In second grade Tooru’s best friend had been a boy named Nakahara Yasahiro. They had been best friends since the beginning of the school year when Yasahiro had told Tooru so. 

This was before Oikawa had acquired his irresistible charm and bedroom eyes, so a best friend was a big deal.

They had been in the same class, and since they met on their way to school and didn’t part until dinnertime, they were nearly inseparable. They played together during recess almost exclusively. They traded Pokemon cards and built sandcastles in the sandbox. Nothing could get in the way of their perfect friendship.

And then one day someone instigated a schoolyard wide game of manhunt. Every child was roped into playing one way or another, even Tooru and Yasahiro, much to Yasahiro’s displeasure. Yasahiro didn’t like to run around. He found it annoying. Building stuff was much more fun.

“C’mon Tooru,” he whined. “Let’s go back to building the outer wall.”

Tooru’s hands played with the hem of his shirt. He liked building things in the sandbox with Hiro-chan but sitting around all recess had started to lose its appeal. He wanted to run around.

“It’s just that it sounds fun, that’s all,” Tooru’s voice, already thin, tapered off near the end when he saw how Hiro-chan’s lips pulled back slightly, revealing his clenched teeth.

“Tooru—“ he started to protest.

“Are you too comin’ or what? We’re starting!” A boy ran up to them looking like he had just finished a game of manhunt rather than about to start one, and it was only ten minutes since recess had started. He had spikey hair and dinosaur bandaids all over his palms and knees. 

Tooru’s eyes sparkled.

“We’re no—“ Yasahiro tried again to shut down their involvement.

“Yeah!” Tooru grinned, his heels lifting off the ground briefly in elation. Whoever this boy was, he looked so cool! He probably did all sorts of cool things around the schoolyard. He probably knew all sorts of fun games!

“Tooru!” Yasahiro shouted.

Tooru cringed, and his hands went back to tugging at the hem of his shirt.

“What’s the problem? Don’t you know how to play? It’s fine! We’ll teach you!” The boy reached forward and took Tooru’s hand and pulled gently, leading them back to the growing crowd of children. Yasahiro had no choice but to follow or be left out, but he didn’t look happy about it and Tooru _knew_ that he was glaring at him behind his back.

“I’m Hajime, by the way. We’re about to pick teams. Tora’s team is ‘it’.”

“I’m Tooru, and this is Hiro-chan! What team is Hajime-chan?”

“I’m just a regular player. I wanted to be ‘it’ but Tora beat me to the fence. She’s really fast. I have to practice way more than what I’m doing now,” he added to himself, but Tooru heard him and his eyes widened even further. 

“Hajime-chan can do it!”

“Thanks!” Hajime turned back to look at him, grinning the biggest grin Tooru had ever seen. 

They arrived a moment later and Tora took one look at the three of them and pointed at Yasahiro. “I want you on my team,” she declared, and Yasahiro scowled, but he went over to stand beside her and the other three girls and boys she’d selected. 

The game started a couple of minutes later, with the children named ‘it’ hiding in a far corner and covering their eyes dutifully. They counted to one hundred, and then four of them dispersed, running in opposite directions. 

Yasahiro stayed where he was, narrowing his eyes against the sun’s glare—or because he wasn’t happy to be playing the game—and looked out across the schoolyard. He had tried to cheat and watch where Tooru had run off to, but that Hajime kid had pulled him too fast and Yasahiro had immediately lost track of them. Why did he have to butt in on them? Building sandcastles was way funner than running around and sweating and getting muddy. And playing manhunt _would_ get them muddy because the field still had small puddles from the rain that had fallen last night. Yasahiro’s upper lip curled in disgust. Maybe he would just stick to the pavement.

All the way on the other side of the schoolyard, Tooru and Hajime were crouched down on the other side of some thick bushes, trying desperately not to rustle the leaves. Tora was about five metres away from them, and while Hajime was reasonably sure he could make it to the homefree spot even if she saw him, he didn’t know how fast Tooru could run and Iwaizumi Hajime didn’t leave teammates behind.

On the other hand, if he made a break for it before she discovered Tooru, it would draw Tora away from Tooru and give him a chance to make it to homefree separately.

Hajime’s eyebrows furrowed together.

“Hajime-chan,” Tooru’s small voice, barely a whisper, caught his attention. His bottom lip was between his teeth, and he was looking anxiously from Tora to the homefree spot. “I think I have a plan.”

Hajime’s eyebrows relaxed, and he leaned in close to better hear Tooru speak. As he outlined his idea, Hajime’s mouth stretched into a wider and wider grin, pleased with what Tooru had come up with. It was way better than his plan!

“That’s a great plan! Ohkay, I’m counting on you, Tooru!” He whispered fervently.

“And I’m counting on you, Hajime-chan!” Tooru replied, smiling so hard his cheeks hurt. It felt good to be depended on. When he and Hiro-chan played together, Hiro-chan was the one who always decided what they would play, and how they would play it. It felt good to have Hajime-chan think his idea was good enough to use. He wanted to experience more happy moments like this one with him.

“Ohkay. One… two…” Hajime started counting quietly. Tora was moving slowly to their right, scanning the bushes diligently. “Three!”

Tooru jumped to his feet and took off toward the pavement and, as predicted, Tora bolted after him. Hajime left a couple of seconds later, racing straight toward the baseball fence—the decided homefree spot. As they had predicted, Tooru was no match for Tora and he was swiftly captured, right before Hajime touched homefree. From halfway across the schoolyard, they turned to look at each other and simultaneously whooped in victory.

Tora turned around and blinked at Hajime, untouchable where he was. “Did you sacrifice yourself for Hajime?” She started leading him toward jail, which was back on the pavement.

“Eh…” Tooru rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. When she put it that way, it sounded kind of embarrassing. 

“You totally did! Wow, you’re really cool! Mostly when we play manhunt all of the kids just think about themselves, so the game ends really fast cause I’m the fastest runner in the school. You should definitely play with us more often!” Tora grinned at him so sincerely that Tooru forgot all of his embarrassment and grinned back at her. 

“Ohkay!” 

“Kay, make sure you stay within these chalk lines, alright? Otherwise—“

“Otherwise?”

“Uh, just don’t go outside. It’s against the rules. Oh, unless you get freed. But like I said, all of the kids just think of themselves, so you’re probably gonna be here for the rest of the game.” She frowned, looking genuinely regretful. “Sorry.”

Tooru shrugged. “It’s ohkay. It was fun!” He grinned again, which seemed to cheer Tora up enough that she smiled back when she waved bye, already running off in search of her next target. 

She really is fast, Tooru thought, amazed. I wonder if I could ever be that fast. Tooru bent his knees, collapsing down to sit cross-legged at the edge of the crudely drawn chalk line, getting comfortable while he waited.


End file.
